Leadership: Six Studies in World Strategy

Thatcher’s time as Prime Minister (from 1979 to 1990) came to define British politics, and yet, notes Kissinger, she came into that office with a modest record. According to Kissinger, at the heart of Thatcher’s success lay “personal fortitude” (323), not merely coming up with ideas but having the will to bring about their implementation. Prime Ministers, unlike US presidents, tend to reflect party platforms rather than personal appeal, and must work much harder to ensure the loyalty of their party in order to remain in office. When she assumed office, the British economy was suffering economically and psychologically, reeling from the postwar collapse of its empire and loss of its global preeminence to the United States. The Vietnam War, followed by the introduction of Soviet medium-range nuclear weapons to its European satellites, had left many Britons and Europeans tired of the Cold War. Inflation and widespread strikes in the public sector depressed the public mood. Kissinger recounts how, the daughter of a grocer and lay preacher, Margaret Roberts was a studious child who navigated the misogyny of British politics to become a Member of Parliament for North London at the age of 34 (after having married Denis Thatcher in 1951). As a cabinet member in the Conservative Heath government, she educated herself in economics, turning against the statist consensus of the time and embracing the power of free markets to unleash opportunity and political freedom. Serving as Leader of the Opposition, Kissinger says that “her rhetoric and politics would strike a genuine contrast to the staid conventional wisdom that, in her view, had doomed Britain to stagnation” (335). Her confidence and rhetorical skill made the previously unthinkable seem common-sense and necessary.

In foreign policy, Thatcher recognized the importance of the alliance with the United States as crucial for both national defense and the preservation of global freedom. As Prime Minister, she introduced a kind of shock therapy into the economy, drastically raising interest rates as a means of halting inflation, holding firm even as Britain went into recession. She also stood firm during a massive strike of mining workers, waiting them out even as public opinion favored their cause. Kissinger also notes that Thatcher pushed for privatization in much of the economy, while shoring up the much-beloved National Health Service.

Over the course of her time in office, inflation and unemployment both declined, “an economic turnaround engineered by Thatcher and her capable lieutenants [that] had restored Britain’s standing in the world” (342). She further affirmed British sovereignty, Kissinger argues, by standing up to the Argentinian invasion of the British-owned Falkland Islands, insisting on their reconquest even as many advisors insisted that Britain lacked the capacity to do so. With the United States calling for mediation, Thatcher made one last offer for UN administration of the islands to cover further negotiations, possibly in the expectation that Buenos Aires would refuse it—which they did. To general surprise, Britain won a complete victory, upon which Thatcher proclaimed, “[W]e have ceased to be a nation in retreat,” which in Kissinger’s estimation also “strengthened the West’s hand in the Cold War” (351).

Kissinger notes that another major foreign policy challenge was the status of Hong Kong, a British colony held on a lease set to expire in 1997 (as it did). Thatcher was strongly opposed to placing British citizens under Communist rule, but had very little room to maneuver when the Chinese government held firm on the transfer. She managed to save face by ensuring protections for Hong Kong’s distinct parliamentary and financial systems so that it could retain some measure of autonomy (although at the time of Kissinger’s writing, the prospect of such autonomy appeared dim, as Beijing began a crackdown against Hong Kong’s pro-democracy movement in 2019).

Closer to home, writes Kissinger, Thatcher had to face the Irish Republican Army and their terrorist campaign to break Northern Ireland away from Britain. She held absolutely firm, refusing to grant hunger-striking prisoners the status of political dissidents, even when some died from starvation. Surviving an assassination attempt by the IRA in 1984, she affirmed an agreement with the Republic of Ireland that assured only a majority in Northern Ireland could bring about political change—and the IRA had nowhere near majority support. Kissinger observes that this helped lay the foundation for the Good Friday Agreement under Tony Blair in 1998, which brought about a major reduction of violence in Northern Ireland.

A fierce Cold Warrior, Thatcher linked a strong national defense to the prospect of negotiating with the Soviets from a position of strength. A Soviet newspaper gave her the nickname “Iron Lady” (364), an intended insult that lived on as an honorific (including the title of a 2011 biopic starring Meryl Streep). She also linked the threat of communism abroad to the menace of state power closer to home, where she found a willing rhetorical partner in President Ronald Reagan. Kissinger notes that the two did not always agree on specifics—Thatcher was skeptical about Reagan’s plans for space-based missile defenses, and she objected to Reagan’s invasion of the island of Grenada (a member of the British Commonwealth) without consultation. She nevertheless proved a vital ally in Reagan’s negotiations with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, which culminated in the elimination of intermediate-range ballistic missiles in Europe.

The Gulf War broke out in the closing days of Thatcher’s tenure after Saddam Hussein of Iraq invaded Kuwait. She cited the example of the Falklands to show that “the only honorable course was to restore the status quo; the moral clarity she brought to bear ultimately had a significant impact on the American administration’s decision-making” (377). Kissinger states that Thatcher’s final days also introduced the prospect of a newly reunified Germany, to which she was initially opposed on the grounds that it was once again threaten the peace of Europe. For those who argued that a reunified Germany would be safe within a broader European architecture, she responded that multilateral European governance would weaken the sovereignty of individual states to the benefit of a remote and unaccountable bureaucracy. When she compared the European Economic Community to the Soviet Union, many within her own party revolted and forced her to join an exchange rate mechanism that would serve as a prelude to the introduction of a common currency. The Conservative party then compelled her to resign, appointing John Major in her place.

Kissinger credits Thatcher with an “economic and spiritual awakening” for Britain (391), largely rooted in her steely nerves and bold visions. She was a co-leader at the Atlantic Alliance at the crucial moments of the Cold War’s end, reaffirming the special role of the United Kingdom beyond what its material capabilities alone might indicate. While she drew fierce criticism, Kissinger notes that her “love of country and her people” was evident to all (394), and Queen Elizabeth II attended her funeral in 2013, a posthumous honor of which Winston Churchill was the only other Prime Minister to have received from her.